AI Vega

[prsnlty]

My LEDs are in a canopy (which is painted white inside) with lenses to water surface at 12" and my tank is 22" deep. AI light spread at that height and 24" depth is supposed to be 24" X 24". With a 30" deep tank you may need them placed closer to the water surface. Or can cause shadowing. This is the reason some people say to get 4 units. So it depends on what corals you want to support and so on.

If you're trying to save money I would suggest you get 3, hang sideways and closer to the water surface and change out the 40* lenses to the wide angle lenses. Doing this also gets rid of the spotlight effect.

125g mixed reef Peninsula

 

[MBSL55]

The Vega has 80 degree optics and I am not aware of an option to change them out for tighter optics. They are modular though like the Sols so who knows, maybe they'll release some tighter optics for the Vega for deeper tanks? MACNA is just around the corner so it might be worthwhile to wait and see what they announce. If they end up making multicolor pucks for the Sols (completely made-up speculation on my part, I haven't heard of anything like that), different optics for the Vega, or something else there might be more options available.

 

[prsnlty]

Are they all 80* ? I had emailed AI before they were released and they said they would come 40* & 80* combo rather than 40* & 70* like the Sol Blues. This is good to know!

They also said there will be upgrade kits for the Sols but apparently they are not out yet. I have 2 SB units I will be upgrading and then getting 1 Vega at the same time.

125g mixed reef Peninsula

 

[prsnlty]

I wonder if the SB 40* lenses will fit the Vega pucks? Anyone have the new lenses and old to see if they are the same size? I'm thinking Vega lenses are larger. If not, there are tons of 40s out there..lol I will also be putting one of these units on a 100g hex tank so I'm with ya on this one...

125g mixed reef Peninsula

 

[Kbra]

My LEDs are in a canopy (which is painted white inside) with lenses to water surface at 12" and my tank is 22" deep. AI light spread at that height and 24" depth is supposed to be 24" X 24". With a 30" deep tank you may need them placed closer to the water surface. Or can cause shadowing. This is the reason some people say to get 4 units. So it depends on what corals you want to support and so on.

If you're trying to save money I would suggest you get 3, hang sideways and closer to the water surface and change out the 40* lenses to the wide angle lenses. Doing this also gets rid of the spotlight effect.

125g mixed reef Peninsula

A 1 x 4 puck arrangement will produce a rectangular spread not a 24 x 24...

 

[prsnlty]

Ooops sorry, was thinking of the blues... Justin From AI told me the above a while back when I was planning to purchase them. And I did AI does have info about the Par spread of their units with depth differences between 24" - 36" in a 36" square area on their site. This is for the Blues AI Sol - Performance and there are none yet for the Vega.

 

[MBSL55]

I'm pretty sure they are all 80 degree optics from what I recall reading. There were some questions as to whether the Sol or Vega would be better for owners with deep tanks and the recommendation from AI was to go with the Sol because you could use the 40 degree optics. That was before the Vega Color announcement though so you'd have to factor in how important the additional colors are to you.

The lenses are different between the Sol and Vega. The Vega lens is more like an AI nano lens with the larger center lens for the larger white LED and then 4 smaller lenses around it. The 5 lenses are one assembly like the three lenses on the Sols. On the Vega, the lenses come out the same way they do on the Sols so it would be easy enough to make a tighter optic if they wanted to.

As to the upgrade, I recall Justin saying basically everything but the heatsink and fan would go so you'd probably get the same puck and puck configuration as the Vega if you did a Sol to Vega upgrade, at least that's my guess.

 

[Lovge]

Lol 9 pages of thread and not one coral . Sexy lighting thats for sure.

 

[prsnlty]

I'm pretty sure they are all 80 degree optics from what I recall reading. There were some questions as to whether the Sol or Vega would be better for owners with deep tanks and the recommendation from AI was to go with the Sol because you could use the 40 degree optics. That was before the Vega Color announcement though so you'd have to factor in how important the additional colors are to you.

The lenses are different between the Sol and Vega. The Vega lens is more like an AI nano lens with the larger center lens for the larger white LED and then 4 smaller lenses around it. The 5 lenses are one assembly like the three lenses on the Sols. On the Vega, the lenses come out the same way they do on the Sols so it would be easy enough to make a tighter optic if they wanted to.

As to the upgrade, I recall Justin saying basically everything but the heatsink and fan would go so you'd probably get the same puck and puck configuration as the Vega if you did a Sol to Vega upgrade, at least that's my guess.

Yeah, the Vega project wasn't totally completed at the time I emailed him either and not everything about the Vega was set in stone at the time. Nor was how the upgrades would be worked out. They were pretty sure about how the upgrade would be done but the inter connectivity to Vega via wireless to the controller.

Funny how many people don't like the 40* lenses on the Sols so they left them out of the picture on the Vega... but now they will be needed for deep tanks. I think they'll eventually make the tighter optic for this one.

Personally, I would think that half Sol Blues and half Vegas unit would be nice. For example on a 6' long tank like mine SB - V - SB- V. Again though - the timers would be a headache if you couldn't link them together on one controller.

As for your upgrade comment, he told me the same thing
----
Before I forget.... When I changed my tank over from ancient T12s (LOL) I put only the Sol Blues up. My corals were okay... just okay. I did notice they behaved like they didn't want to wake up all the way. That's why I have 2 - 24" T5s inbetween the SBs. Now they love the lighting. I have one SB with the lenses as they came and the most light demanding corals Acros mainly) under it, the other SB has all 70s. The LPS and Monti corals seem happiest under the 70s.

 

[MBSL55]

At MACNA right now. The upgrade wil be all new everthing except heatsink assembly and maybe even a nrw power supply due to higher wattage leds on Vega. Director interface is cool and will be its own light controller and not just software. Will try to take screen shots tomorrow.

I'll get a build log going after MACNA as I just transferred livestock this past Sat amd have been busting my butt to get everything running right and now have corals under the lights. They all look quite happy.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

 

[prsnlty]

Excellent news Can't wait to hear more when you get back. Wish I could have gone but have kids in school....

125g mixed reef Peninsula

 

[Kbra]

At MACNA right now. The upgrade wil be all new everthing except heatsink assembly and maybe even a nrw power supply due to higher wattage leds on Vega. Director interface is cool and will be its own light controller and not just software. Will try to take screen shots tomorrow.

I'll get a build log going after MACNA as I just transferred livestock this past Sat amd have been busting my butt to get everything running right and now have corals under the lights. They all look quite happy.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

They say when they are releasing the director?

 

[MBSL55]

I *think* they said a month or so and then the beta test units will go out. I'll go back and confirm this afternoon with Chris and Ryan.

In the meantime, screen shots of the Director interface to whet your appetite:

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Kbra]

I *think* they said a month or so and then the beta test units will go out. I'll go back and confirm this afternoon with Chris and Ryan.

In the meantime, screen shots of the Director interface to whet your appetite:

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

Wait the director requires more equipment/ money?

 

[MBSL55]

It will be a separate more advanced controller with the software interface you see. . . at least that's the current plan. No firm release date, I think the one month might be for the start of beta testing.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Kbra]

It will be a separate more advanced controller with the software interface you see. . . at least that's the current plan. No firm release date, I think the one month might be for the start of beta testing.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

Laaaame. They are really boning people who bought the current controller by releasing a whole new controller a month or two later. What a scam!

Advice to everyone else don't by your AI Vegas till the director is released and save yourself $80!

 

[dallas reefer]

I wasn't impressed by the vega. Seeing them in person really changed my mind. Just MY opinion. I told the guy that at MACNA, lol, and he kinda got angry with me.

Maybe if there were more LEDs on it.
Don't Shoot me for my opinion.

 

[Kajung2k]

I thought director was going to be free or maybe 39.00 software charge. Sigh a new controller. Hopefully it'll be less expensive for early adopters.

Laaaame. They are really boning people who bought the current controller by releasing a whole new controller a month or two later. What a scam!

Advice to everyone else don't by your AI Vegas till the director is released and save yourself $80!

 

[mcarroll]

[curmudgeon]

I never quite understand when people complain that technology has moved on like this. Same whining (sorry) I heard when AI announced the wireless modules and price reductions for legacy systems...."why'd they rip me off!?"

The answer is that it's not a rip off, not a scam, and nobody's getting boned - and the product isn't going to serve its purpose any less well now than it would have last week when you got yours.

Happens in computers all the time....LED lighting is a very similar industry, so we shouldn't be too surprised to see the same trends. So as with computers, decide rationally (not emotionally) what you need, fill that need, don't continue shopping.

Besides, where is the logic in all the complainers complaints? Should there be no new technology after you buy yours? Should it always be for free since you "bought early" whatever that means? All nonsense!

[/curmudgeon]

-Matt

 

[Kbra]

I never quite understand when people complain that technology has moved on like this. Same whining (sorry) I heard when AI announced the wireless modules and price reductions for legacy systems...."why'd they rip me off!?"

The answer is that it's not a rip off, not a scam, and nobody's getting boned - and the product isn't going to serve its purpose any less well now than it would have last week when you got yours.

Happens in computers all the time....LED lighting is a very similar industry, so we shouldn't be too surprised to see the same trends. So as with computers, decide rationally (not emotionally) what you need, fill that need, don't continue shopping.

Besides, where is the logic in all the complainers complaints? Should there be no new technology after you buy yours? Should it always be for free since you "bought early" whatever that means? All nonsense!

[/curmudgeon]

-Matt

Your theory applies to main stream technology and I agree. However in this case its one company who released a partially complete product and then what two weeks after says here's the rest we've been talking about for a year so throw away what you bought 2 weeks ago so you can get the functions we've been talking about. Theres no reason they could have made the current release controller compatible with their app. Heck they could have even waited to release the current controller after they got all the bugs out. I used to have a lot of faith on AI. Not so much any more.